Day 3 of tackling this project is not directly after day 2. I took a break for a couple of days and turned my attention to some other outdoor projects. I’ll tell you about them soon. I needed that break though. But, here I was, back to face the sod, rocks and whatever else the ground was going to throw at me. And man, did it throw stuff at me!
I focused on the final flower bed in the cluster, the medium sized one. Bordering it is a huge boulder so I decided to work around it. The rear side of this bed won’t be perfectly straight because of the boulder but that’s okay, it will be hidden by tall, beautiful flowers soon enough – hopefully!
Thank goodness the earth here was softer. Maybe it’s because this was the spot where I dumped grass cuttings for a couple of years. I had bagged them up at the start of the tidy-up of this area, before the genius idea for the cluster of flower beds came to me. Well, whatever the reason, things were going pretty well so far with the pulling up of the turf and the breaking up of the remaining soil.
Then I got to a specific point and I hit rock with such intensity that the jarring went right down my spine into my hips. Ugh. I gently poked and prodded and noticed that the stone gave some slight movement. This meant that it was movable. As I want to do this job well, and have it looking nice, I went for the bar.
And no, I don’t mean to the bar! There was no alcohol involved in the making of these flowerbeds, I’m afraid! I really do mean that I went and got this heavy, weighted, metal bar thing that the Hubs has. It’s got like a flat head screwdriver sort of shape on one end, while the other end is pointy. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s a heavy metal bar and in our garden it’s used as a lever for prising and pivoting boulders, and large rocks, out of place. It got used a few times and there was a lot of grunting and sweat. I think I also tripped over my own feet a few times and may or may not have fallen over myself like an ungainly twit. But hey, the point is to achieve the goal by hook or by crook right? No? Okay, come hell or high water? No, that’s still not quite right. Oh I know, come trip and fall and muscle strain and back pain! Yep, that’s it right there.
After many water breaks and some flopping on the ground in near defeat, the flower beds were dug! I was so happy!
Then, I realized I had to move all the turf and roots and other rubbish I had dug out of these beds to another area of the croft – well out of the way. Groan. I groaned. My back groaned. What a palaver! But, it had to be done and so by golly I was going to do it. I was absolutely and utterly tired of the prep work for these flower beds.
I must have been on my 10th barrow load or so when the Hubs came out and asked me, yet again, if I was enjoying myself. I had a plan for this though. You see the lovely man has on occasion taken it upon himself to edge the flower beds I created in the lawn area last year and the year before. He’s terribly good at it too. He doesn’t lift up the raggedy turf, he just leaves it there, but the sharp angled digging part gets done. So, I seized the opportunity and sweetly asked if he would mind edging out my curved beds. He only needed to do the two inner edges as I was going to line the outer edge with the stones I’d dug up. He agreed and by doing so made me the happiest person in the village, I’ll bet!
Many barrow loads later, the area was cleared and by this time the beds had been edged, so I barrowed that new turf out too. I had also made a start on the stone edging. The long daylight hours at this time of year means that I can pack a lot into a day!
A day later and I had put the structural plants into the main part of the beds, trying to set a balanced pattern. I divided some of my Shasta Daisies that I had grown from seed last year, which have done really well in other parts of the garden. I also planted some Red Hot Pokers and Delphiniums given to me last year by different people living in the area – I love doing plant swaps! I also divided some Primulas that I’d grown from seed two years ago, and transplanted some Alliums and different types of Daffys along with some Grape Hyacinths. Although I generate most of my flowering plants from seeds, I do splurge every now and then and buy a potted plant at the garden centre or supermarket. Usually those purchases are shrubs. So, a purple Hebe that I’d bought some months ago, also went into the largest flower bed to add an extra special point of interest, as did a pink Astilbe that I’ve had for just over two years.
There are many more things to add to these beds as I have a lot of young seedlings growing up at the moment. They’re not ready to be planted in a bed yet though. They’re still a bit tender. But I do have lots more around the place to divide and transplant. I’ll keep you posted on that as it happens.
When I’ve got the rock edging done and the grassy bits between the beds cleared, I’ll see about sowing some more grass seed and getting the grass looking lush again.
I don’t think I can train our lovely 15 year old doggie to poop elsewhere though. With this project, I have come and disrupted her toilet space. So I think I have daily poop clearing on my schedule from now on.
What’s a little bit of paradise without a dose of reality anyway? Before I settle down on a garden chair nestled in the luxury of my new cluster of flower beds I’ll just channel Tag Team and their ‘90s hit, changing the lyrics just a tad ‘Poop! There it is!’.
Here’s the link on youtube for your enjoyment! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffCEr327W44
And by the way, yes I finished digging the drainage ditch. I needed help though, so the Hubs pulled back the reeds with the long handled instrument meant for this, and stood far away from the smelly grime I was ankle deep in, and I carried on digging. The spade couldn’t cut through those reeds you see. In this manner we got the drainage ditch done in maybe an hour. The hose got turned on and voila, all the smelly sludge got washed away and yet another task got crossed off my list. What a nice feeling!
